Every seasoned traveler can expect at some point to
experience some bumps and bruises when it comes to flying international. I am incredibly lucky and my wonderful stepfather
works for a major airline which has allowed me to travel to various countries
using standby. This means once the plane
fills up I can ride in any of the left over seats. It is cost effective but it can be a pain
because traveling standby during high seasons, ie: major holidays, spring
break, etc. can be impossible.
Nonetheless, up until today I have never had a traveling horror story to
tell. That has all changed…
So my husband Thomas and I decided a couple months ago that
our Argentine adventure was ready to come to an end. It’s time to go back home to Denver and begin
something new. Originally we had planned
to spend Christmas in Buenos Aires. That
was until my family in Mexico graciously purchased airplane tickets for us and
invited to spend the holidays with them.
Wonderful. We were/are very
excited and spent these last few weeks preparing to leave. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:30am
and we were flying Taca airlines which we have never flown before. Things started off bad from the
beginning. It was like a black cloud of
bad luck blew in and loomed over us the entire morning. First off, it was raining very hard. A friend of mine offered to drive us to the
airport. It was pouring when his car’s
windshield wipers decided to die. We
were flying down the highway and my friend could barely see out the
window. I’m not going to lie. I have never felt so close to death before. I prayed a lot. We managed to make it to my friend’s home
where we proceeded to dump the car and take a taxi to the airport. We arrived a bit later then we would have
wanted but with time to spare. In order
to leave we had to pay a special fee which involved running from one side of
the airport to the other, but we secured the proper papers and went to check in
with Taca. This is where things nose
dived. We were told the system was
closed, that we had arrived too late, they were already done boarding. I checked my watch and saw we had over an hour. After some moaning and pleading the guy at
the counter said fine, he’d check us in.
Then he proceeded to tell us we had the wrong papers. We had to argue that we had in fact secured
all the proper paperwork and finally he relented. Then he asked us to see our vouchers for our
flight we showed them. Then he asked to
see our tickets for when we leave Mexico and go back to the US. I explained that my family had bought the
tickets for us to go to Mexico, and that we would be flying stand by back,
which means I never have or receive an actual ticket until the day I
leave. The Taca man then proceeds to
tell me that we cannot leave without tickets proving we have no plans to
illegally stay in Mexico. I proceeded to
tell him that he we had no plans to illegally stay in Mexico, and that
nonetheless, the authority of who is allowed to enter Mexico does not belong to
him, that right belongs to Mexico.
MEXICO DECIDES TO ENTERS MEXICO NOT ARGENTINA! Things got ugly. We fought, I turned into the ugly American
and terrible words came out of my mouth.
Then when I demanded he show me
in print where this policy is, the Taca man proceeds to print out a paper
saying we need a visa. Americans are
given visas and permission to enter Mexico upon the actual arrival in Mexico,
so this idiot was basically just making things up. Then we saw the man look over and spot a
suitcase sitting on the conveyer belt next to him. He asked the woman next to him who worked for
a different airline if the bag belonged to them. She said no.
Then he just shrugged and tossed it aside. So basically we witnessed someone’s bag get
lost. I doubt if it made it on the plane
in time. All in all, our flight left
without us and I returned back to my friend’s home angry and frustrated. We called Taca immediately and demanded a
refund. Of course this took three phone calls since they disconnected us
twice. We were told the tickets were
refundable but it would have to be done through the website in which they were
purchased which is called despegar.com AND my father who purchased the tickets,
would have to be the one to make the call and ask for the refund. I notified my father of our mishap and he
told me he would straighten it out. A
couple hours later he informed me that Taca now claimed that the tickets were
no refundable and my father had to pay a penalty fee so that we can now leave
on the 23rd. I have never in
my life seen such an incompetent airline.
I went online and discovered some pretty nasty horror stories about this
airline. This airline flies all over
Latin America, so if you are planning a trip south, DO NOT CHOOSE TACA! They are rude, incompetent, and if they feel
like appointing themselves the job of another country’s immigration officer,
they will! In conclusion, I havemany wonderful traveling experiences, but I guess it was time to pay my dues. Life doesn't always shit rainbows and sunshine, so I guess I'll take my lumps and hope for the best on the 23rd.
